The Madras High Court on Monday directed the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (Tasmac) not to restrict the liquor bottle buyback scheme to the Nilgiris district, and instead extend it to all hill stations, including Kodaikanal, Megamalai, Yercaud and Yelagiri, and also in places surrounding wildlife sanctuaries and national parks.
Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar ordered that the bottle buyback scheme, aimed at preventing injuries to wild animals due to the discarding of broken bottles in the forests, should be implemented in the Nilgiris district by May 15 and in other hill stations, as well as around wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, by June 15.
The orders were passed after Additional Advocate General J. Ravindran placed before the Division Bench, which was seized of forest-related cases, a government letter written by the Prohibition and Excise Secretary, S.K. Prabakar, on April 21, permitting the Tasmac Managing Director to introduce the bottle buyback scheme in the Nilgiris district alone.
